Handle for sheet material



March 29, 1960 l. J. NOE ET AL 2,930,583

HANDLE FOR SHEET MATERIAL Filed March 18, 1957 INVETQRS. Issac John NoeRoy V. Norton WHITEHEAD, VOGL 8 LOWE ATTORNEYS :l-LE FOR SHEET MATERIALIsaac John Noe, Greenland, and Ray V. Norton,

Castle Rock, 3010,

Application March 18, 1957, Serial No. 646,596 3 Claims. (Cl. 254-113)Throughout the years, the use of sheet and slab material in the buildingarts has steadily increased, and now large sheets of plyboard and gypsumwallboard are being used in many instances in place of lath and plaster.These sheets are made as large as can be handled by one or two men, andare often as large as four feet wide and twelve feet long. They may beas much as or more than one-half inch thick and quite heavy. While suchsheets are not beyond the lifting capacity of a man, they are often sounwieldy that it is exceedingly difiicult for a man or even two men tohandle them. This difliculty becomes even more manifest when such largesheets, have to be carried through narrow openings up stairways and setagainst a wall and lifted a short dis tance above the floor to hold themin place for permanent attachment to the wall. gypsum wallboard arebound together as for transportation, the bundle is not only unwieldybut very heavy and difiicult to lift let alone manage it.

With' such and other factors in view, the present invention wasconceived and developed to provide for a novel and improved handle forthe grasping, lifting and holding of sheet material. It follows thatthe'objects of the invention are to provide such novel and improvedsheet-material handle which: (a) permits a workman to lift, carry andmanipulate otherwise unwieldy sheets of plyboard and the like; (b)facilitates the handling and transportation of heavy bundles of sheetmaterial; (0) permits slabs, once set as against a wall to be easily andslowly lifted and held short distances above the floor level to theirproper permanent position; (d) isespecially adapted to hold doors inposition in their openings and against their jambs for marking hingelocations and for other operations in hanging doors; (e) may be used fordirect lift prying where objects must be lifted straight up and where itis important not to mar finished surfaces; and (f) is asimply-constructed, neat-appearing, economical, rugged and durable unit.

' With the foregoing and other objects in view,*all of which more fullyhereinafter appear, our invention comprises certain novel and improvedconstructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements ashereinafter described and as defined in the appended claims, andillustrated in preferred embodiments in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

Figure l is a side elevation view of one embodiment of the inventionwith the lifting elements thereof shifted to a lifting and holdingposition.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the unit as viewed from the indicatedarrow 2 at Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation v ew, similar to Fig. l, but with thelifting elements retracted and illustrating Where several sheets ofasserts the unit being used as a handle for a sheet of plywood or thelike.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section as viewed from the indicated line 4-4at Fig. 1 but on a somewhat enlarged scale.

Figure 5 is a side elevation view of the lower portion of the apparatusbut illustrating an alternate lifting arrangement, the retractedposition of the lifting element being shown in broken lines.

Figure 6 is a side elevation view similar to Fig. 5 but showing anotheralternate lifting arrangement.

Figure 7 is a side elevation view similar to Fig. 5 but showing yetanother alternate lifting arrangement.

Referring more particularly to the drawingfthe invention combines animproved handle H and lift L associated therewith. It is contemplatedthat the handle H may be used for the purpose of holding and carryingsheet material or the like while the primary function of the lift L isto permit the handle to be forcibly raised a short distance as from afloor level by direct lifting action of the lift L as hereinafterdescribed in detaiL. ..The handle H is formed from a flat rigid bar ofsteel or like metal having one end looped to form a hand grip 10 in theform of a simple oval loop ,of sufiicient width to receive the fingersof an individualwhen'fb eing held in a simple direct-lifting grip ,withthe, shank 11 of the bar depending centrally from the grip. The'op;posite end of the bar is twisted and bent to forrnl a fiat outstandingfinger 12 whereon the edge of a sheet'S'of plywood or the like may besupported as in the manner clearly illustrated at Fig. 3.

The flat loop of the grip 10 must necessarily be' held spaced from andin spaced parallelism with the adjacent surface of the sheets supportedupon the finger 12 and the flat sides of the bar forming the shank 11are thereby perpendicular to the sheet surface with one edge 13 of theshank being adjacent to the sheet. To permit an individual to hold thehandle and lift a sheet of plywood or the like with the edge 13 abuttingagainst the adjacent surface of the sheet S but with the grip 10 spacedtherefrom to protect his hand, the fiat shank bar 11 is formed with anoffset 14 near the grip. To properly position the finger 12 at the baseof the handle, the base end of the shank 11 is twisted in a -degreetwist 15 immediately above the 90-degree bend at the outstanding finger12. 4

The length of the shank is such that when an individual standing uprightis holding the grip 10 a sheet S held upon the finger 12 will be held asuitable distance off the floor or ground as the case may be. It iscontemplated that the shank may be made of a single piece of suitablelength for an average individual. However, it may be made'withadjustable length, with an upper shank portion 11a and lower shankportion 11b being suitably overlapped and interconnected at a selectedlength. A preferred, simple connection is the provision of evenly spacedorifices 16 in each overlapping shank portion which will lie in mutualregistration, and a pair of bolts 17 extending through certainregistered'o'rifices in the manner clearly illustrated in the drawing.

The lift L illustrated at Figs. 1-4 is hingedly connected to the lowerportion of the shank 11 at the side of the handle opposite the sheetcontacting edge 13 and the elements comprising this lift are fiat rigidsteel bars similar to that forming the handle H and these bars arehinged and oriented to lie substantially in the plane of the flatsurface of the bar forming the shank 11. This lift includes a leg 18which is shiftably connected to the handle H by a top link 19 and alower lever link 20. The links are connected to the shank 11 and to leg18 by pivots 21 and the respective elements form a swinging grasping andlifting handle and its load upwardly.

assures 1 s parallelogram with the leg 18 being in spaced parallelismwith the shank 11 regardless of its position relative to the'finger 12.The base or" the leg 18 terminates as a foot 22 which is adapted to lieabove the finger 12 when in the retracted position, as illustrated atFig. 3, and to extend below the finger when in the lifting position.This pivot is suitably widened to provide a good bearing surface and mayinclude a padded underside, not shown, to prevent the marring offinished floors or the like;

The lever link 26 extends outwardly from the pivot connecting it to theleg as a handle and the flat bar forming this link is formed with a9'D-degree twist and partial bend 23 to form a fiat foot pedal 24. Themanner of using this lift L and handle H is very simple and quicklyapparent. The apparatus is useful in many instances, and for example, itmay be used whenever a heavy sheet or the like or even a'piano or pieceof furniture which is sitting on the floor must be lifted above the doora short distance. For example, a heavy wall panel must usually be liftedan inch or two above the lioor level before it is secured to wall studs.After the edge of the panel is seton the finger of the lift and ispositioned against the wall studs, the operator will then step upon thepedal 24 to depress the leg 19 and lift the While so depressed theoperators hands are free to secure the plyboard in position as bynailing. The end of a piano or heavy piece of furniture may be lifted inlike manner for various reasons, such as to free or set a rug.

In the operations of lifting a sheet S or objects a short distance ofithe floor as by foot pressure it becomes desirable to lock the lift legin any desired position to free the operator so he can go elsewhere. Toaccomplish this a detent 25 .is pivotally connected to the leg 18 as ona pivot 21 and this detent 25 swings against a notched or serrated edge2s on the shank 11 to be locked at any selected position. A spring 27resiliently holds the detent against the serrated edge 26, and a thumblug 28 may outstand from the detent to facilitate releasing it from theedge 26. To permit complete retraction of the leg above and against theshank, as illustrated at Fig. 3, a notch 29 may be cut in the edge ofthe leg 19 to prevent the point of the detent from interfering withmovement of the leg 19 to the position against the shank 11.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. incorporates a wedgingtype lift L which uses a single leg 18' pivotally attached to the shank11 as at 21. This leg 18 is of such length that when rotated against theshank it will extend below the finger 12 and in movement to thatposition will act as a wedge to lift the handle upwardly above the floorlevel, all as in the manner clearly illustrated at Fig. 5. To facilitatesuch movement and wedging and prevent the end of the leg from cuttinginto the floor, the end of the leg 18 is twisted as at 23' andterminated as a loop 30. The length of the leg 18 is such that it may befolded upwardly against the shank 11 when not in use, as clearlyindicated by the broken lines of the figure.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. 6 incorporates anhydraulic lift L" which includes a cylinder 31 allixed to the shank 11as by bolted clamps 32 with the 4 lifting piston 33 being directeddownwardly to extend below the finger 12. A simple form of pump head 34is located at the top of this lift and includes a conventional pumphandle 35 which is reciprocated for lifting. This construction isespecially adaptable for the direct lifting of heavy masonry slabs toset them in place.

The modified construction illustrated at Fig. 7 incorporates amechanical lift L which is mechanically equivalent to the lift L ofFigs. l-4 but places the detent 25, the notched edge 26" andtne holdingspring 27' above the leg 19 and upon an extension 36 of the top link 26.The detent 25' is attached to this extension 36 as at a-pivot 37.

While we have described our invention in considerable detail, it isobvious that others skilled in the art can devise and build alternateand equivalent constructions which are within the scope and spirit ofour invention. Hence, we desire that our protection be limited, not bythe construction herein illustrated and described, but only by theproper scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A jacking handle for holding and forcibly raising an upright sheet ofsheet material, and comprising, a. vertically disposed shank having ahandle at the top and an outstanding finger at the bottom thereof, saidshank being adapted to be held against the vertical face of an uprightsheet to hold the sheet in place as against a wall with the finger underthe bottom edge of the sheet, a lift leg shiftably affixed to the shankand being adapted to move the shank upwardly whenever the base end ofthe lift leg is moved against a floor, or like abutment Surface, a pairof links interconnecting the shank and lift leg including a bottom linkand a top link, spaced pivot connections on each link spacecllyinterconnecting the shank and lift leg -to form a shiftableparallelogram and an outward extension of the lower link from the liftleg forming a foot lever adapted to permit the jacking handle to lifitthe upright sheet when the shank is held against the sheet and the footlever is depressed.

2. 'In the organization defined in claim 1, said upper link extendingoutwardly from the lift leg, a detent mounted thereon adapted to pressagainst an edge of the shank and notches in the shank edge adapted toreceive the end of the detent to lock the shank in position when it ismoved upwardly.

3. In the organization defined in claim 1, a detent pivotally mounted onthe lift leg adapted to bear against an edge of the shank and notches inthe shank edge adapted to receive the end of the detent and lock theshank in position when it is moved upwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS621,685 Leidenfrost Mar. 21, 1899 943,013 Fichter Dec. 14, 19091,334,482 Brittain Mar. 23, 1920 1,363,928 Shirkey Dec. 28, 19202,425,395 7 Root Aug. 12, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 299,825 Germany Aug. 14,1917 389,095 Germany Feb. 1, 1924

